1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to cache replacement policies for use within data processing systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide data processing systems with cache memories. Cache memories provide faster and more efficient access to frequently used data or instructions. A cache memory typically has a limited size compared to the main memory and accordingly only a subset of the instruction/data held within the main memory can be held within the cache memory at any given time. Cache memories are provided with replacement policies which determine the cache line (which may contain data and/or instructions) should be removed from the cache in order to make space for a new cache line to be fetched from the main memory and stored within the cache memory. There are many known examples of cache replacement policies, such as least recently used, round robin and random.